Peer Support in the Criminal Justice System

“Coming out of the criminal system, for many, means starting over with nothing,” Zarate says. “Our objective is to reduce hospitalization, reduce recidivism, and have them be successful in re-entering the community.” The more we learn, the more obvious it seems that...

Political Climate as a Chronic Stressor

“In effect we’re sending stress signals to ourselves about which we can do nothing,” says Dr. Christopher McCarthy, Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. The overwhelming uncertainty and tense political climate has become a point of stress for many...

Hogg Foundation Policy Priorities 2017

“We have reason to be hopeful about where we’re at on mental health in this legislative session,” says Greg Hansch, public policy director for National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Texas. The Hogg Foundation recently released its list of policy priorities for...

Youth in Transition: From Support to Empowerment

“Statistically I’m not supposed to be here. I should be in prison, homeless, or dead.” -LaQuinton Wagner Statistics are not necessarily the end all. With the overhaul of Texas’ child welfare system dominating headlines during the 2017 legislative session, we...

Nightmare at Noon – The UT Tower Shooting

“It is our community-mindedness and willingness to love one another, as well as our ability to resist fear, stigma, and scapegoating, that provides the surest bulwark against the dark forces that drive individuals, like Whitman, to perpetuate inexplicable acts upon...

Early Intervention in Psychosis

Evidence suggests that psychosis, in at least some cases, has a similar disease course to other chronic illnesses. Cancer, for example, progresses along a continuum, and we know that if we intervene early we can create optimal outcomes for a cancer diagnosis. More and...